the Other Bug
by Marie Ford
Summary: Twelve years after, Flicka, Flick and Atta's daughter, just wants to be different from most princesses. Harvey, an young grasshopper, can't seem to live up to his dad's expectations. Their both free spirits, and they want adventure. Soon after they meet, the two kids will get much more than they bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ten-year-old Flicka sighed. Air. Fresh air, free from the chores of being princess. Her mother, Queen Atta, was wonderful, but Flicka just didn't like being smooshed down under the lectures that came too often, and she had finally gotten some alone time.

Flicka flew up to a nice green leaf, and started up at the big fluffy clouds. Her eyes started to get just a little heavy, and she begin to let them close.

Snap!

Flicka's eyes popped open, and she carefully peaked out from behind the leaf. She hoped it was her dad, Flick. Her mother would have been very upset if she had found her not doing homework.

But she didn't see anybug, and she flew down to the ground near the base of the planet she was near.

Then she heard footsteps, and she ducked behind the plant. It got closer, and closer, and-

THUNK!

The footsteps stopped for a second, and she looked out from behind the plant.

It was...a GRASSHOPPER!

Her eyes wided in terror, then she suddenly frowned. It was a really small grasshopper, maybe even smaller than her. He only walked on his two jumping legs, and under three of his arms he carried at least two books in each, and under his fourth he carried what looked like a large rocket. His eyes looked just a bit to big for his head, and he was frowning at the ground. Flicka followed his gaze. He was starring at a smaller book that was on the ground, and he tried to get it, but his attempts to pick it up with his already full arms was rather humorous. He obviously didn't want to put all of his stuff down, so he tried to get it with his foot.

Flicka stared at his face again. "You're a kid!" She suddenly cried.

The small insect jumped a full inch in the air, all of his things flying everywhere as he let out a tremendous yelp.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

He looked up and starred in surprise, and a bit of fear. "You...you're an ant!"

Flicka blinked. "What's wrong with that?" She asked, not in a rude way.

"Well," he said. "I've just...never seen an actual ant before."

Flicka reached down and picked up some of the books, and handed them back to the grasshopper, but the small bug hesitated before taking them.

"I've heard a lot of stories about ants," he said, staring at her. "You're not gonna feed me to any...any birds, are you?"

Flicka gave him a funny look. "Of course not! I'm not a heartless bug. And I wouldn't feed any little bugs to a-"

"I'm not little!" The grasshopper suddenly cried out, and he stood up a little straighter.

Flicka walked right up to him. He was just a grassblade smaller then her, but he was smaller, and he shrunk back down.

"I...I bet I'm older than you!" he tried.

"Are you nine?"

He grinned and straightened up again. "Eleven. And you?"

Now it was Flicka's turn to frown. "Ten. But I'm still taller than you."

"And I'm still older than you," he said with a grin. He picked up the rest of his things, and somehow managed to tuck it all under both left arms. He hesitated, then held out his top right hand. "You're a nice ant. I'm Harvey."

Flicka fermly shook his hand. "You're nice for grasshopper. I'm Flicka."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So, do you live around here?" Harvey asked, looking around.

"Yea," Flicka said. She turned and pointed to the big tree that was nearby. "Right under the tree is where my home is. Where do you live?" she asked.

"Well, if you walk, about three hours away from here, but if you fly, about half an hour. It mostly depends on how well and how fast you can fly. My dad could probably fly here in about ten minutes."

He stopped for a second, then continued.

"I live in this big hollowed out cacti. It's not as green there as it is here," he added, more to himself.

Flicka eyed his books. "And I thought I love to read," she said with a smile.

Harvey pulled out one of the books, and popped it open. "They're mostly science books. I love to do experiments, and I like making things."

"Me too! My dad is an inventor, and he's even written a few science books himself. You should see him. Maybe you could change his mind about grasshoppers hating inventions and science and stuff."

Harvey hesitated, then said, "Most grasshoppers where I live don't care much for science. They prefer sports and...and squishing other bugs. My dad's into sports, and he kind of dislikes science and inventing. In fact, everyone expects me to be a big tough bug like him, and I just don't care much for it."

"Ugh, I know how you feel," Flicka said. "Everyone thinks I should know how to run a colony, and know everything that's going on and know how to do everything just because I'm a princess. Sometimes I wish everyone would let me be for a little while."

Harvey nodded his head. He hadn't realized how much he could have in common with an ant.

Flicka suddenly pulled the book out of Harvey's hand and looked at the cover. "Hey, this book is by my dad!"

Harvey leaned closer. "Really?"

"Yea." She pointed to the name on the front. "See, it says Flick. That's my dad's name."

Harvey stared at the book, than snached it out of her hands, still fixed on the cover. He looked up at Flicka, looking a bit worried and scared.

"You mean, you're Flick's daughter?!"

"Yea," she said, but she couldn't figure out why he seemed frightened. "You know, you should meet my dad, he-"

"I...I'm late!" He suddenly whirled around to run off, then turned back around. "Nice meeting you!" He managed to say. Then he ran off again, and Flicka couldn't see him for a moment. Then she saw a small shape fly into the air. It was the little grasshopper riding on a beetle. He waved, then flew away, and she soon lost sight of him.

Flicka grinned, then remembered that she might be late for something, and she hurried off.

* * *

Harvey jumped off the beetle, and rushed into the big cacti. As usual, it was bustling with activity, grasshoppers going this way and that. In a large room across from him, he could see a bunch of adult grasshoppers sitting down at a big meeting table, and Harvey had a bad feeling that his dad would most likely be there. His dad didn't like meetings, but he never knew his dad to miss one or be late for one. Harvey slipped into a small alcove that was farther away from the room that was closed off by a curtain, and almost ran into a grasshopper.

"Harvey!" the other grasshopper cried. He was the same age as Harvey, but a tiny bit bigger. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you? I've got everything ready, we just need the rocket, which I see you've remembered, aim, and then we light it! BOOM! Right into the middle of the great room!" He gestured to a giant crossbow that was big enough to shoot the rocket. A pile of matches was beside it.

Harvey shook his head. "We can't, Riley. I forgot that the meeting was today, and if we do it, then he'll know it was me."

Riley's face fell. "But we've been planning it all week!"

"I know, but my dad said that I can't do it around him, or in a way that would embarrass him. I'm sorry."

Riley nodded, then suddenly brightened up. "Blame it on Me!" he said, and snatched up the rocket, carring it over to the crossbow.

"NO!" Harvey cried, and tried to pull the rocket away. "You know my dad. Even if you do it, he'll know that I helped some way!"

"Come on, Harvey," Riley said as he pulled the rocket out of Harvey's hands and placed in the crossbow. He took one of the matches, and lit it. "Why would your dad automatically think you set off a rocket?"

Suddenly, an adult female grasshopper pulled open the curtain. It was Riley's mother, and she gasped when she saw the two bugs.

"What's going on?!" She cried, making them jump.

And making Riley drop the match. But it just barely missed the rocket fuse, and it landed in the pile of matches, catching them all on fire.

"I got it!" Harvey cried, and stooped down to blow them out. He blew and blew and-

FSSSSSS! Went the fuse, as it suddenly caught on fire.

Harvey started to frantically blow, but it was to late, and he ducked just as the rocket shot off.

Straight for the meeting room.

Harvey stared in horror as the rocket zipped across the table, bounced off the walls, then blasted back into the middle of the Big Room. It made all the grasshoppers run in every direction, and one got caught by his leg on the rocket, then fell on a table with a Wilhelm scream. It suddenly skidded back to the meeting room, then stopped.

There was complete silence. Some of them backed away from it. A whole minute passed, and one of the bugs nudged it with his foot. Nothing.

The entire room let out one big sigh.

Suddenly, the rocket begin to vibrant, and then a loud ear-splitting series of squeaks and pops could be heard from it.

"No," Harvey whispered.

Then it exploded. Bright sparks shot out every which way, and the whole room was total chaos. The noise only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed like hours to them, and especially to Harvey.

Finally, everything started to calm down in a few seconds. Harvey stared at the crater that the rocket had left behind, then looked up.

Everybug in the room was starring at him.

He couldn't help but gulp. Especially when he saw his dad walk right up to him, cross both arms and give him the glare. Only his dad could give a glare that would make a bug flop over in fear, or make Harvey not meet his gaze. Everybug was already afraid of him anyway.

The grasshopper tapped his foot. "Harvey?"

Harvey forced a timid smile, and looked up at his dad. "Hopper?"

Hopper just narrowed his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"But Dad, I can explain everything-" said Harvey as he and his father walked into their house.

"You don't need to explain anything, because I SAW everything," cried Hopper. "You know better! I've told you a thousand times, and you still don't listen."

Harvey's home was the inside top part of the cacti. Harvey, his father, and his whole community, in fact, lived in the big cacti. The cacti was divided up into sections. One section had all of the houses the grasshopper families lived in, another had the schools, and other sections had jobs and other stuff. Underneath the cacti was an old grasshopper dungeon, which held nothing, save for Thumper. The entrance to the cacti was called the Great Room, or to most the Big Room, where all the big things took place, such as ceremonies, but every other day, it served more or less as a mall like center, with different rooms.

"But it wasn't my fault-" Harvey begin, but Hopper held up his hand.

"First rule of leadership?"

Harvey sighed. "Everything is my fault," he said glumly. If Harvey had heard that phrase once, then he'd heard it a million times.

"But I didn't mean to!"

"It seems lately you never mean to do anything! If you were more mature, and stopped playing around like a five-year old, maybe you wouldn't be in situations like these. Maybe you wouldn't be scared of everything. You might have even been started flying by now, like you should have years ago."

"Dad!" Harvey winced. "I just-"

"Harvey, that's enough. Upstairs, now."

Harvey sighed, and hurried off to his room. Unlike most boy's rooms, it was rather quite clean and nice. A few leaves scattered on the floor, but nothing to bad. His bed was pretty close to the center of the room, if the headboard hadn't been against the wall. On the opposite wall was his desk covered in leaves and notebooks. Two shelves were on both sides of the desk, the door was right across from the window, and between them was the bed. On the right side of the bed by the door was a small table with a light, a few drawings of inventions, a small toy stuffed grasshopper, and two pictures. On the other side by the window was a large box that read 'Sportz Stuff.' There was a hole in the side of the box, however, and Harvey climbed over the bed and lifted up the box, revealing a drop of water, a small pile of grass, and on a bed of cotton, a little aphid.

The aphid looked up at Harvey, and Harvey grinned.

"Hi, Alph."

The aphid let out a little yelp, but Harvey quickly shushed him.

"You can't be loud Alph; if Dad finds you, he'll give you to Thumper for a snack."

Harvey lifted the Alph to his face, and Alph begin to lick him like crazy. Harvey had found Alph, and had been secretly keeping him for about two months. Harvey knew that his Dad wouldn't let him get pets. He had asked for one once-more than once, actually-and each time, Hopper would look over the pet, then look at Harvey, and say, "We've got Thumper: we don't need any more pets."

But Thumper was more of Hopper's pet than the Family pet, and even though Thumper liked Harvey, Harvey didn't spend much time with him.

Alph panted and hopped on Harvey's bed, and Harvey rolled over to look at the pictures. One was of a little baby Harvey, but the other was of a pretty, curly antennaed female grasshopper. She had soft features, and looked much nicer than other male grasshoppers. She was looking up and smiling a nice smile, and peeking out from behind her legs was an older Harvey than the last picture, but he was about toddler age.

"Hi Mom." Whispered Harvey. He wished she was there. He picked up the toy grasshopper, Mr, Bug, and stared at him.

Alph let out a small whine, and Harvey stroked him to keep him quiet.

"Hey, you wanna know what I did today? I met an ant. A nice one. And kinda pretty to."

Alph paused his panting for a moment, and looked at Harvey.

"No, I'm not gonna tell dad about her. Not yet anyway."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Flicka hurried up to the tree, went past her Mother, who had her back to Flicka because she was talking to some workers, and Flicka was about to slip away when Atta suddenly called out to her.

"Flicka, where have you been?"

"Umm... I was-"

"NOT doing what I asked you to do, which was keeping track of how much food we had, AND you haven't finished your homework from yesterday," Atta said, with her arms crossed. "And where have you been, anyway?"

"I was...um...associating myself with the bugs on the island?" Flicka tried. Atta frowned at her, and Flicka sighed. "Ok, maybe I wandered off, and I was sort of daydreaming. But I-"

"Flicka, will you please just do what I asked? Please?"

"But Mom, I really did find a-"

"Flicka, Please?"

Flicka sighed. "Yes, maim," and she slipped into the opening to the underground. She didn't get very far before she spied her two best friends, Tori and Mist, who had been listening to Flicka's conversation, and they hurried over to her and as they walked with her, they bombarded her with questions.

"What did you find?" asked Tori.

"I didn't think there was anything here that you didn't know existed," said Mist.

"You'd never guess in a million years," said Flicka with a satisfied smirk.

"A new invention of your Dad's?"

"A giant fish?"

"Something that everyones seen before, I bet," said a new voice behind them. It was a taller, meaner girl ant, who was the biggest bully in Flicka's class named Clara. As usual, she had her posse of two twin ant girls with her, who seemed to do anything she asked, named Halli and Hayli.

"Whatever it is, it's something that isn't any of your business," said Mist, who held up her chin at Clara.

"Everything my business, unless I say otherwise," snapped Clara. "So what are you hiding, Flicka?"

"Sorry, but it would be beneth me to tell you," said Flicka, and she started to walk away.

"What if I put thorns in the teachers chair tomorrow, and then tell everyone you did it?" she said with a grin. Flicka knew that Clara had a reputation for getting others in trouble, and she wasn't caught often, and most adults believed her. She sighed, and then said, "I found a...a Grasshopper."

Clara's smile wavered for a few seconds. "I don't believe you."

"That's the truth."

Clara walked towards Flicka until she was almost touching her nose. "Liar," she whispered, then whirled around and walked away. "Have fun in Detention!" she called over her shoulder, with the twins laughing as they followed.

Mist and Tori stared at Flicka for a long time, then Tori finally piped up. "Did you really find a grasshopper?"

"Yup."

"WOW! Was he vicious?" asked Tori.

"Did he attack you?" inquired Mist.

"Did he want to take a bite out of you?"

"Was he covered in ugly scars, and did he have big fangs?"

The two girls suddenly stopped when Flicka suddenly burst out laughing, as they stood absolutely confused.

"Did he brainwash you?" offered Tori.

"No," said Flicka with a grin. "He was perfectly harmless, and he was a kid, and he was smaller than I am. AND he was more afraid of me!"

"Really?" asked Mist.

"Yea. He seemed pretty nice too."

"That's how they all are, until they turn you over to their leader, and squish you!" cried Mist.

"I don't think he could have harmed an aphid, but you guys need to keep this a secret, ok?"

"Sure."

"Ok." said Tori.

But as Flicka and her friends went to count up the food, Flicka couldn't help wondering if Clara would keep it a secret.

* * *

_in case anyone is wondering, Harvey looks like a younger (and much nicer) Hopper, but he doesn't have an intimidating attiude; instead, he's more curious and his eyes are slightly bulgy. he also looks more kind, and very much more like his mother than Hopper, (but we'll get to that later) and he's much skinnier then the other grasshoppers. Flicka looks more like Flick, and her nose is a little big like his. the only things that are oviously from her mother is her curly antennae...and her attitude!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Harvey slipped by his math teacher's desk, hoping she wouldn't remind the class of what today was.

_Please don't say it_, he thought nervously.

As if to prove him wrong, Miss Leaf suddenly called out to the students, "And don't forget that today is the big race for all Fifth-grade boys in place of PE."

Harvey let out a groan. He knew that this was only once a year, and it always started at fifth grade, but he hated it. It was an obstacle course; you ran, climbed over walls, and then got a flag on the top of a tall stick, then came down, and crossed the finish line. But Harvey wasn't fast, or very strong either. All the grasshoppers had to take it, because it was like a test to get in any of the sports, but since Harvey wasn't interested in sports he didn't want to do it.

Unfortunately, it was mandatory. It wasn't required of him to sign up for any sports, but since Hopper was his dad, everyone was sure he would win the race.

Harvey didn't think so.

He walked out of the classroom with his head in his books to try to get his mind off of the race. One of his antenne hung down the side of his head, and the other stuck straight up. He didn't see the bigger boys behind him until one of them pushed his head straight in the book he had open.

"Hey Smoosh!" It was Travis, who was a little taller than Harvey. With him were three other grasshopper boys. Travis was famous for constantly beating the snot out of any other bug in anything. If someone made him mad, you got squished; if you ran into him you got creamed; if you touch him, you're basically on his bad side. He cheated on everything, and Harvey always would have at least one bruise a week from him.

"Ready for that big race today?" Travis asked. He stood right in fornt of Harvey so he had to answer.

"Sure, whatever." Harvey was only half listening.

Travis let out what sounded to Harvey a snort, then leaned close to him. "There's no way you're gonna win," he said real softly.

Harvey just nodded his head. "Ok. That's fine with me." He paused for a second. "At least I don't sound like a pig," he added with a grin.

Travis stared, then a dark look came over his face, and Harvey kept his gaze, still smiling, but slowly starting to walk down the hall.

"Oink." said Harvey.

* * *

"What happened to your face?" asked Riley at lunch when Harvey sat by him. Surprisingly, he didn't get a black eye, but he did get plenty of bruises, and a split lip too.

"I angered Piggly-Wiggly. I would have gotten beat up anyway, so I went ahead and gave him a reason to. It's no big deal," he added when Riley gave him a look.

"It was about the race today, wasn't it?"

"Yea. Everyone who knows him and me knows that I don't have a chance. He'll win it, fair and square. Well...maybe not fair, but he'll win."

"Dude, you're smarter then him and you know _that_. Maybe you can use that against him."

"I don't know. I really don't care if I win, cuz then I'll be obligated to do sports and stuff," Harvey poked at his grass salad, picked up a piece of a blackberry, then dropped it back on his plate. It was his favorite, but he wasn't very hungry.

"Last week, they had the girls race, and my sister won. She's smaller than half of the other girls who participated, and she still won," Riley said, trying to encourage him.

Harvey stared at him. "You do know you're sister is taller than you by quite a bit _and_ she does boxing _and_ soccer in her spare time, and she's older than you by several months, right? And on top of that, almost all of the girls are taller than the boys. And bigger. Including..." Harvey stopped for a second, wondering if he should tell Riley what happened.

"Including what?" Riley asked.

"Nothing, I'll tell you later."

* * *

Harvey nervously stood in front of the starting line, wishing he could go invisible. On both sides of him were the rest of the fifth grade boys, most looking as nervous as he felt, others even worse. One kid was already throwing up on the grass blade that served as the starting line. Another one started cry. Harvey suddenly started to need to use the bathroom.

"Alright now listen up," said the PE teacher, Mr. Rom. He was big and buff, not as tall as Hopper, and he didn't seem as frightening either, to Harvey anyway. But then again, most Grasshoppers weren't as scary as Hopper.

"Now I'm sure you all know what to do, but if you don't, I'm gonna go through it so you don't get confused. You will run and climb over three walls, after each one is an obstacle. When you get past the last obstacle, there is a tall pole for each of you to climb, it will have your name at the bottem, and at the top is a flag. You will retrieve the flag, then come down and cross the finish line. There will be no kicking, no biting, no antenna pulling, no wing grabbing, no gouging eyes, and you are not to assist your buddies. This is a test, and helping them is a form of cheating. You pass the test by finishing the race."

By now, Harvey actually did need to use the bathroom.

"Now, on your mark!"

The grasshopper who was crying started to wail. Travis was beside Harvey and he leaned over to him and whispered, "See you in last place."

"Get set!"

Harvey took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. _You pass by finishing, you pass by finishing_, Harvey said to himself. _I just need to finish. _ _Not win, just finish._

"GO!"

The boys all ran toward the first wall. Harvey was a little slow on the running, but the wall was the easier. He reached the top of the wall before everyone else, but froze when he saw what was on the other side.

A large pond that was full of fish, cattails, quite a few spiderwebs, and very unstable lily pads. The only good thing was that the fish were to small to eat them, and the webs had no spiders in them.

Harvey slid down the wall, and examined the surroundings for a second. Other grasshoppers tried to fly straight through it, but they were getting caught up in the webs, and some were going from lily pad to lily pad, but they fell in the water. One grasshopper started to pull a friend up, but a voice over the loudspeaker suddenly called out, "Markus, you are disqualified for cheating! Please report to Mr. Rom Imediently!" Others who could swim were getting bit by the fish, and they shrieked.

_So that leaves the cattails_, thought Harvey. He scrambled up the closest one, and was almost to the top when it started to bend. He paused, then carefully tilted it so that it fell towards another cattail, and he grabbed on the second one, letting the other one go. He kept this up, but halfway through, one of the plants didn't seem to bend much. He wiggled and struggled, then finally bent it by pulling on it with all of his might, and he would have reached another cattail... if he hadn't slipped his foot, and he went sailing through the air, landing right on top of the second wall.

Harvey glanced back and smiled. He was in first place.

He hurried down the wall and looked around. It seemed like it was just full of rocks, and he could easily see the other wall. But something didn't feel right.

He took a step forward, and then it happened. A giant shadow suddenly passed on the ground in front of him. One that looked like a bird's.

Harvey didn't have much in common with his dad, but one thing he certainly inherited from him was a terrifying fear of birds. He scurried under a rock as fast as he could, but only after he was well hidden did it occur to him that it was probably a fake bird. He cautiously peered out, and sure enough, the bird flew over his head again, but this time he could see that it was quite fake. He sighed with relief, then noticed a fake snake under another rock a little ways off, a rat, a frog and two lizards.

He took a deep breath, then ran as fast as he could to the other wall. He had been hiding to long, because now he could see some of the other boys catching up with him. Some were getting grabbed by the fake animals, and were quickly disqualified. Harvey stayed under the rocks, the got over the last wall, and then stopped.

There were hundreds of thorny vines, they were thick, and they looked like a foot high, too. He couldn't even see the other wall at all. He could go right through...or at least try, but he would probably loose his sense of direction. Instead, he climbed up to the top of them and walked on them. He could already hear the boys who had mistakenly went through instead of over it.

In no time he reached the other side, climbed down and was now racing toward a jungle of tall poles. Behind him he could hear soft cursing, and he glanced back. It was Travis.

Harvey hurridly looked around for his name, but suddenly realized that some of them had no names at all. He searched and-Found it! He quickly climbed up to the top, where there was a ball just big enough for one bug to stand on, and, poking out from a stick that was attached to the top of the ball to the ceiling high above, was his flag.

He pulled it out and was about to climb down, when suddenly he heard a loud CLONG! and down below, the pole that was connected to the bottom of the ball to the ground had fallen out, and was now completely on the ground.

A ways away, Travis was pulling out his flag, and the same thing happened to him, but he flew down, and crossed the finish line.

Harvey franticly looked around, but none of the other balls were close enough to jump on, and he couldn't swing to them either. He had to fly down, but he just couldn't.

"What's a matter? Scardy Ant?" Asked Travis. But Harvey wasn't afraid of heights, it was the thought of splatting on the ground. He knew he couldn't fly; he'd tried and tried, but his wings just couldn't seem to lift his weight, and he would always fall back down.

He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, and desperately attempted to fly, but his wings gave a feeble, and rather pathetic, buzz for a few seconds, then they slowed to a stop. He stared at the ground, then clutched the pole behind him with all four hands. It suddenly came back full force what he had ignored earlier, and he started to squirm.

"Mr. Rom?! Is this a bad time to mention that I need to go to the bathroom!?" He cried out, squeezing his eyes shut so he didn't have to see anyone's face, but he could certainly hear others start to laugh.

One by one, all the other grasshoppers who had been behind him came and got their flags, and flew down with ease. Some started to wine at him. Riley even offered to help him, but Harvey wouldn't let him. All to soon, Harvey was the last one left.

"Come on Harvey, your taking forever!"

"Hurry up!"

"We don't have all day!"

"You can do it!"

"Harvey come on!"

By now, Harvey was on the verge of bursting, both in tears and his bladder. He couldn't hold it in any longer, and he knew if he jumped off, he would be a flat grasshopper. He squeezed his eyes shut again, and then...

If it hadn't landed on Mr. Rom's head, no one might have noticed. But Travis did, and his eyes traveled upward.

"HAHA! Harvey's such a Scardy Ant he wet himself!" He pointed at him, and almost all of the boys begin to roll with laughter, as Harvey's face begin to flood with tears.

As if it couldn't get any worse, Harvey glanced up, blinking away the tears, and saw a group of older Grasshoppers walk by the laughing boys, and they looked to what they were pointing at. Some of them begin to snicker and laugh too, but one didn't. He just stared in astonishment and horror.

It was Hopper.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Harvey walked silently in the house with his head down, and his science teacher Miss Palm. She was the one who had finally gotten him down. His friend Riley had tried to come with him, but Riley's mother didn't let him

Harvey didn't dare look up as his Dad, who was waiting, glaring down at him, all four arms crossed. The room was terribly silent.

"Please say something," Harvey murmured.

"Well honestly I can't think of anything age appropriate to say to you! What were you thinking? Oh wait, you obviously don't!" Hopper eyes blazed with fury. "I'm really disappointed in you."

Harvey couldn't think of anything to say, so he was quiet.

"Just go to your room," said Hopper in disgust, and Harvey hurried upstairs, but instead of closing the door all the way, he left it open just a crack.

"Do you have any idea how stupid that was?! This is humiliating. I sure I'll never hear the end of it!" Hopper's angry voice floated up easily. "The only good punishment I can think of would be to clear his room of the science junk."

Harvey gulped

"Think about him for a moment." His teacher's voice was quiet and a little upset, and he could hardly hear her. "He's probably more embarrassed than you are, and HE'LL be humiliated even more at school. I doubt you even know that he's getting bullied. And it's mostly because he's smarter then most everyone else!"

"He's not as good as everyone else, though."

Harvey silently begin to make his way down the steps.

"He's better! And he's great at science and inventing, and he's good in almost every subject-"

"Except something good!" Said Hopper, and he was starting to pace the floor.

"Listen, he's a good kid, and he's smart. Just because he's your son doesn't mean he has to be like you. If...if Zoeina was here-"

"Don't say that name." Hopper's voice was close to a whisper, but he had stopped for a second, and towered over Miss Palm, but her face was calm.

"He's just a boy."

Hopper started to pace again, and Harvey was almost to the bottom of the steps.

"Why did I have to get stuck with a stupid kid instead of her?"

Harvey froze.

"You know, sometimes I wish he was gone and her here!"

Hopper turned around, and suddenly was facing Harvey. The younger grasshopper's lip was quivering, and Hopper stared in slight horror.

Harvey suddenly go angry. "I wish the same thing about you!" He screamed. "I'm stuck with a horrible, bully dad who doesn't care about me, and you're so selfish, you never care about anyone but yourself! Well I'm glad I'm not like you cuz you're terrible awful horrible!" His words were angry and fast, and his tears were just as many.

"Now you listen here," started Hopper, but Harvey didn't care.

"I never want to be like you! I hate you!" Tears streamed down his cheeks as he raced up the steps and slammed the door.

"Harvey!" Hopper got to the door just as it closed. He tried to open it, but it was locked. He was about to yell something, when he heard sobs. He sighed, then leaned against the door, unsure of what to do. His eyes suddenly caught the teacher's stare, really upset now.

"Don't look at me." She said. "You seem to have everything under control." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, and she was out the door before he could say something.

He let himself slide till he was sitting on the floor, and put his head in his hands


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Flicka closed her book with a sigh. She couldn't concentrate on her homework very much, especially while trying to think about grasshoppers.

Earlier at school, she had gone to the library to research a bit on the bugs. Nothing she found had much of a resemblance to Harvey, other than being on grasshoppers. The first book she found was on how the they had oppressed the ants, but for some reason there was nothing on why the grasshoppers were given food in the first place. The book described them as big, mean, bullies, but they left the ants alone after it was found out that the meanest one, Hopper, had been eaten alive by a bird. The paragraph was accompanied by a drawing of a screaming, angry, grasshopper being fed to a bunch of baby birds, which looked kind of creepy to Flicka.

She also thought the grasshopper looked a little like Harvey, but maybe it was just her.

The next book was more on grasshoppers themselves, but it had more pictures been writing. It was rather cool to her, but none of the drawings had the grasshoppers in a relaxed position or even nice looking. Then again, she thought, they weren't very nice back then.

Near be end of the book, when Flicka turned the page, she let out a squeal and slammed the book shut. The library suddenly became unbelievably quiet. After a few seconds everything went back to normal, and Flicka carefully opened the book back to the page and stared in terror.

The pages on both sides had one entire, carefully painted picture of a frightening, narrow faced grasshopper, so real looking, Flicka felt it could come out and eat her any second. She quickly closed the book back before she could get any more nightmarish images from it, then hurried on to class.

Now she couldn't stop thinking about grasshoppers, especially Harvey. It had been 3 days since she had seen him, and she wondered how he was doing. Instead of actually doing her homework for the past hour, she had drawn a picture of Harvey with his nice smile and kind face, unlike every other picture she had found.

Maybe I could ask someone about the grasshoppers and find out more that way, thought Flicka. Her mother probably had too much on her hands, but she knew several others who might help. Might.

* * *

"They were mean rascals, but they left, so why should you worry about them?" Her grandmother asked. Aphie hopped around Flicka, than climbed up to her head, and begin to eagerly lick her face.

"I was just wondering about them," she said, as she pulled Aphie off her head and held him in her arms. "But I wanted to know if there were any that were nice."

"There was one, but Hopper probably dropped him as a larvae, and he was more stupid than anything," she said with a laugh. "You shouldn't worry about it sweetheart, they won't bother us anymore, thanks to your father."

Flicka stared, then smiled. "Thanks for the information grandma," she said, and was quickly off to see someone else.

* * *

Flick was busy. Really busy, making sure all of the storages were full and sealed and there were enough in each one to last a whole month, and he was calculating it on an abacus. So he didn't realize Flicka was there until he felt her arms around his neck.

"Hey dad! Great work! Hey, can I ask you a question and help you out?"

Flick grinned, and handed her the abacus. "Hey honey. So, how was school today?"

"Good." Especially since her secret hadn't gotten spread around. Maybe Clara really thought it was a lie.

"So what did you want to ask me about?"

"I've been curious . . . What were grasshoppers like? I mean, were they ever actually nice?"

Flick stopped walking, and turned to stare at Flicka.

"They were terrifying, and when they got angry, well . . . . . anyway, none of them were nice. They were mean, and cowardly, and they're gone now."

Flicka didn't get any more information out of her dad, but there was one more person besides her mother she could ask.

* * *

Her aunt.

Her Aunt Dot was young, pretty, and enjoyed being a princess. In fact, Dot wouldn't mind if the crown just skipped her; she got the amenities of a queen without the work, but when she did work, she did it very well. Flicka admired her aunt, especially when Dot would sometimes leave to go to fun places, like the city. And her Aunt knew everything.

Flicka found Dot reclined in a chair, being fanned, and sipping honeydew. She was talking to a worker about a warming system for the winter, but when she caught sight of Flicka, she got up and gave her niece a big hug.

"How's my favorite niece? Surviving school O.K.? Maybe I can get your Mom to let me take you to the circus, huh?"

Flicka smiled. She couldn't help it; her Aunt was so funny, smart, and pretty that all the single guys on the Island would try to woo her -but Dot wasn't interested in guys at the moment; she was to busy having fun in the single life.

"Sooo, Aunt Dot, what do you know about grasshoppers?"

Her Aunt thought for a second, then smiled. "They were kinda scary, but mostly dumb. Hopper and his . . . . . . erm . . . PET, were the only ones that were actually frightening. The rest weren't too bad.

"In fact, I happen to know a grasshopper, Molt, and he's just a big sweetheart who honestly wouldn't hurt a soul, and don't tell anybody, but I think Rosie has a crush on him, and he-

"What?!" Flicka stared in amazement. "You know a grasshopper? How?"

Dot eyed Flicka. "Yeah, why the sudden interest?"

"Oh, well . . . I . . . might have met a grasshopper on the Island."

"On the Island?" Dot frowned with a touch of worry. "Why is there one on the Island?"

"He was just a little kid, and he's not here anymore. He's into inventing and stuff, though I'm not sure why he was here in the first place. But he was nice, and small too. I think he might have been a little scared of me."

Dot smiled again. "So your getting a little obsessed with grasshoppers and boys and stuff, huh?"

"No no, just with grasshoppers, but I can't seem to find much on them; the library was more or less a bust."

"Why don't you ask your friend?"

"He lives quite a ways away, and I would probably tire out flying halfway there; it's about three hours from here."

Dot stood up and headed to another room, and Flicka hurried after.

"Rose and Molt wanted me to look after a little guy for the night," said Dot. "He can fly twenty-five minutes for every three hours we fly. I'm sure he won't mind carrying a kid."

In the room, just waking up from a nap and covered with a leaf, was an enormous blue beetle. Flicka gaped at him as he thumped over to Dot.

"Hey there cutie, have a good nap?" Dot rubbed him, and gave him a kiss on his horn.

"Dim, this is Flicka, and she wants to take you on a ride. Wanna do it?"

Dim eagerly nodded his head, then looked at Flicka with a big grin, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Be back before supper, O.K.?" said Dot.

"Thanks!" Flicka climbed up on Dim, and flew out of a large skylight overhead.

Now all she had to do was find Harvey.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Harvey sat on top of the cactus, staring absently up at the clouds. He squeezed his eyes shut, but once again, the tears managed to escape. He opened his eyes, still facing upwards. Below, a large group of bees gradually making their way towards the base of the cactus could be heard softly buzzing, and the small stream near the cactus bubbled. On the other side of the stream, dense, green grass grew for what seemed to a bug's eyes as miles. But the pretty scenery wasn't noticed by the little grasshopper.

I wish I could fly away, I wish I could make Dad think better of me, I...I wish Mom were here, but none of these things will ever happen, no matter how hard I may wish, Harvey thought hopelessly. He angrily wiped the tears away. Crying never did anyone any good; crying was for babies.

"Harrrveeeeyyy!" someone yelled. It sounded faint. For a moment Harvey thought it was Hopper, but then realized it was a girl's voice.

"Harvey!" now the voice was closer, and he turned in its direction.

Flicka slid off of Dim, and flew the last few inches onto the cactus.

"Hey-ya, Harvey!" Said Flicka, and flopped down next to him.

"Oh, uh, hi Flicka," said Harvey nervously, and with a bit of confusion. "How did you get here?" He secretly didn't want her to be there out of concern. What if Hopper were to find her right now?!

"Oh I just looked for the nearest cacti! Anything interesting happen to you lately?" Flicka asked.

"Oh no, nu-nothing actually," he stammered out. "Other than making a fool of myself daily, there's nothing fascinating going on in my life." The hum of the bees was beginning to grow louder.

"Oh, really?" A mischievous grin spread on her face for a moment, and Harvey glanced down the side of the cactus. A few inches from where they were sitting was the window to Harvey's bedroom. Flicka followed his gaze.

"Cool view. Is your house right in the window?" she asked.

"Yeah, but-"

"Can I see your roo-"

"No!" Harvey's eyes got a bit big, and he didn't mean to raise his voice, but the fear in his face and tone was obvious.

Flicka frowned at him. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Well, I don't think my Dad would appreciate it very much; he doesn't like strangers, or, um, ants."

"What's wrong with ants?"

"My Dad's never liked them very much, and he finds them rather annoying."

"Well maybe I could change his opinion," said Flicka hopefully, as she stood up and started towards the window.

Harvey stood up. "No! You don't understand!" He cried, grabbing her arms with all four of his hands and pulling her back toward him, so close, Flicka could almost touch her antennas to his.

"My Dad isn't like anyone else. He would kill you he hates you so much!"

"Why would he hate me?"

"Because," Harvey let go of her, letting his arms hang loose, and hung his head. He took a few steps back. "Because my Dad is, well, he's Hopper." The bees were almost below them, and through their hum Flicka almost didn't hear him.

Flicka stared at Harvey. It couldn't be. She had been told the story of how her Dad had killed him ever since she was born, she knew it by heart, forwards and backwards; it couldn't possibly be true!

"Your lying," she said shaking her head. "He's dead, my Dad killed him!"

"The bird, Flicka, it was a bird, and it was a baby. My Dad's alive."

"Why didn't you tell me?" She said, beginning to get angry.

"I wanted you to trust me," he answered, slowly beginning to back away.

She stared for a moment longer. "Oh I see," she said, becoming more angry by the second. "You wanted me to come here! You wanted to trick me so you could hand me over to your Dad, didn't you!?"

"What, No! That isn't true!" Harvey was backing up closer to the edge.

"Then why didn't you tell me when you had the chance, huh?" Flicka was furious, and she didn't give Harvey time to answer. "I bet you were lying about liking inventions and my Dad, just so you could butter me up!" She was yelling now. "Well guess what? You're nothing but a lying, deceiving, mean, bully, grasshopper!" She said, pushing him with every word. He was nearly on the edge. "And you're just, like, Hopper!" She cried, giving him one final push.

Harvey eyes were wide, and he tried to grab at Flicka, but she pushed him away, and over the edge.

"AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Harvey fell like a rock, to Flicka's slight surprise, but managed to land on one of the passing bees far down below. They buzzed along the stream, turned a curve, and were quickly hidden in the tall grass.

Along with Harvey.

Flicka glared in his direction, then started to leave, when she heard a soft whine coming from the window.

She hovered down a bit to see, and saw a small aphid looking in the direction Harvey had gone. The small bug's eyes were big and sad as he stared.

Flicka climbed into the window and in the room, just for a peek, as the aphid caught sight of her, sniffed her for a moment, then went back to lay by the window. He resumed his whining and staring.

Flicka looked around, perhaps there was evidence of Harvey's lies on the leaves about the room, but as she got closer she saw they were just invention ideas, some even crumpled up. She looked around a bit more, and for a moment she thought she had found something when she saw the box of "Sportz Stuff," but it was just a home for the aphid, who moved on the pile of grass when she lifted the box, and simply lifted the corner of it to see out, and at the window.

Flicka sat on the bed for a moment, and what she had done was beginning to dawn on her. Her eyes caught sight of a toy grasshopper; it had X's for eyes, and felt limp, but she could tell it was taken care off.

She picked up the doll, and hugged it. "I was wrong, Harvey," she whispered.

The aphid suddenly stopped whining, then pulled his head in the box; he had heard footsteps that Flicka didn't.

What she did hear was the door opening behind her.

She swung around to see the biggest, meanest bug she had ever seen glaring at her from across the room, and he had a scar over one eye.

Harvey had also been telling the truth about the one important detail that Flicka had momentarily forgotten about till now.

Hopper stared at the ant. It looked nearly just like Flick. Too much like him.

"Who are you?" he asked, dangerously soft.

Flicka started to tremble. Why weren't her legs and wings working?

Hopper's anger suddenly reached its peak. "Where. Is. HARVEY?!" he roared.

Flicka let out a loud, ear-splitting scream, and frantically buzzed out the window, and onto Dim's back.

"HOME! HOME!" she screamed, but the beetle was already moving at top speed, pinning her antennae to the back of her head. She suddenly realized she was still holding the toy, but that was going to have to wait.

She was about a minute out when she heard a distant hum.

She made the mistake of looking back, and saw a black cloud the size of her fist.

Coming straight for her.

She silently hoped he didn't kill her before her Mother did.


End file.
